Chapter 1412 — Striking Out to Wound

"This has nothing to do with you," Chen Yutian said. "So what if it is? So what if it isn't? Yu Feng, I hope you can look this thing in the face. Since Lingshan won't agree, then let it go. Don't cling to it so. We're all men here, and I understand what you're feeling, but feelings aren't something you can force."

Chen Yutian had meant well in trying to comfort Yu Feng. Thinking of his own circumstances, he had felt a certain kinship with the man, and so he had said a few words more than he should have.

But how could he know that, heard in Yu Feng's ears, those words became mockery and cold derision? Yu Feng's breathing turned ragged, his face so savage he looked as though he meant to devour Chen Yutian alive. "Graaah! Chen Yutian, go to hell!"

With that, Yu Feng, like a man gone mad, struck out in a sudden fury, both fists driving straight at Chen Yutian's chest.

"You—" Chen Yutian had never expected Yu Feng to turn on him without the slightest warning. Startled beyond measure, he got out the single word "You—" and tried to dodge aside, but caught off guard as he was, he had already lost the initiative. Besides, Yu Feng was a skilled hand of the mid Mystic Rank, while Chen Yutian was only of the early Mystic Rank — a newly advanced early stage at that, not yet accustomed to the strength of the new level. Small wonder he fell far, far short of Yu Feng.

So Chen Yutian was struck, beyond any doubt, and sent flying.

Bang! His body shot straight through the window of Qiu Lingshan's office and hurtled out into the open air.

"Yu Feng! Are you trying to murder him?" Qiu Lingshan had not expected Yu Feng to strike either, and with such vicious force. From the power behind that blow, he had held nothing back; and Chen Yutian had flown out through the window — from a height like this, how could a man survive the fall?

True, a Mystic Rank expert could leap across eaves and run up walls, and could jump down from any height without harm — but that was only when he had raised his true qi to shield his body. In Chen Yutian's case, how could he possibly have summoned his qi in time?

Yu Feng had not expected to knock Chen Yutian out of the window either. He had wanted to teach the man a lesson, to wound him — that was true enough — but he had never meant to kill. Chen Yutian was, after all, the heir of the Chen family; killing him would leave the Yu family in an awkward position.

A beating was one thing; a killing would make the Yu family look far too overbearing. If the other great families joined forces to resist them, that would be serious trouble indeed.

"He's a Mystic Rank expert; he shouldn't die. Besides, I wasn't trying to kill him — it was an accident." Yu Feng spoke with feigned composure.

That said, Yu Feng did not linger. He turned to leave.

"Wait! You injure a man and think you can simply walk away?" Qiu Lingshan might not love Chen Yutian, but the two of them were good friends now. With Chen Yutian wounded by Yu Feng's hand, how could she let the matter drop? The struggles among the great families were beyond her power to influence, but to avenge a friend she would not shrink from her duty.

"So it is early Mystic Rank after all!" Yu Feng's expression hardened, and a murderous glint slid through his eyes. "Are you going to avenge your paramour?"

Qiu Lingshan did not answer. She stirred her inner energy according to the Song family's cultivation method, ready to keep Yu Feng where he was.

"Hmph!" Yu Feng gave a cold snort — but in the end he did not fight Qiu Lingshan. He left her office at speed. If he wanted to run, she had no way to hold him back.

Watching Yu Feng's retreating back, Qiu Lingshan felt stifled and wretched, yet utterly helpless. This matter could only be settled at the Assembly of the Great Families. The great families had their rules: disputes among them were all resolved at that assembly. The Secret Investigation Bureau, too, could mediate such conflicts — but mediation was all it could do, and that was precisely why Wu Gonggao had given Feng Tianlong so little face back then.

The Assembly of the Great Families, however, was convened by the Yu family itself. To lodge a complaint against the Yu family at that assembly — Qiu Lingshan felt the hope of it was exceedingly slim.

She did not go after Yu Feng, because she knew she could not catch him. Early Mystic Rank and mid Mystic Rank were two stages apart; the two were not on the same level at all.

Hurrying down to the ground floor, she found a crowd already gathered around Chen Yutian — many people knew him, since he often carried out missions alongside the police. Qiu Lingshan rushed over, and saw Chen Yutian drenched in blood.

"Brother Yutian, how are you?" Seeing his wretched state, she was seized with panic at once; strong as Qiu Lingshan was, in that moment she felt an urge to burst into tears. Chen Yutian was in a truly pitiful state: his chest was covered in the blood he had coughed up, both legs were broken, and the stark white bone showed through — a horrifying sight.

"I'm all right…" Chen Yutian said with a bitter smile, his voice weak. "I can hold on!"

At such a moment, Chen Yutian showed his strength of character; he truly had the spirit of a man.

"Wait here — I'll call an ambulance right now!" Qiu Lingshan said, pulling out her phone to dial the emergency center.

"Captain Song, we've already called the emergency center!" one of Qiu Lingshan's colleagues said hurriedly.

"Ah… all right, thank you!" Qiu Lingshan thanked him at once.

Many people wanted to know who on earth had hurt Chen Yutian so badly, but seeing Qiu Lingshan's grief, they held their questions. Everything could wait until Chen Yutian had been taken to the hospital.

Chen Yutian knew his own body best. He knew these injuries were not life-threatening, but he also knew he had suffered grave internal damage: most of the meridians throughout his body had been shattered by Yu Feng's blows, and the fall from the building had broken both legs. Even if he recovered, the meridians in his legs likely could not be restored. Training further in martial arts would be hard, and even if he could cultivate, he could never again hold the early Mystic Rank he had now.

Still, Chen Yutian did not regret it. He had not wanted to be a turtle hiding in its shell; this matter had to be talked through clearly with Yu Feng, one way or another. And this time, since Yu Feng had struck him, the betrothal between him and Qiu Lingshan would likely dissolve as well — the Yu family would be in the wrong and would not keep pestering her. But it was his own Chen family that would suffer for it. What was the Chen family to do from now on?

The wail of an ambulance siren rose; Chen Yutian was lifted onto the stretcher. By then, his consciousness was gradually growing dim…

The Chen family's future and his own dreams had become tangled together, leaving Chen Yutian ever more lost and sorrowful. He had been a promising expert of the early Mystic Rank, and in an instant he was crippled. If his grandfather learned of this, would it break his heart?

Chen Yutian did not dare think any further.

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